For a second Nicki was certain the cracking rumble that followed Jax’s pronouncement was some mythic response to the declaration. [i]He was hers[/i]. The widening of her eyes from within the cage of his arms spoke volumes. She was stunned but, strangely, not displeased by the pronouncement. But for all that, it was not the heavens ringing its approval. Such events occurred only in story and this was life, what was left of it. The crack was the cannon and the work of captain and look out. The screech that followed filled her head with blinding pain, the primal rage in those voices eclipsing even their lurid song in volume. She hung onto Jax as he moved the ship with all the skill that had won him position as helmsman. 

The movement of his muscled body under her hands as he worked grounded her, gave her a place to return to after the pain of the new, discordant song. When he let her escape she ran, but not from him, simply towards her duty. She left him with a look that said nothing and everything and held nothing like regret. She echoed his orders, lending her own honey to the words as she moved towards the back of the ship, readying herself for conflict. The Dusk Skate was a fast ship, she moved like silk under Jax’s expert hand but a ship can only move so fast. Turning was not a fast affair. 

“Get me powder and shot!” she called to a passing crewman whose dazed expression showed enough burgeoning clarity to be entrusted with the task. He nodded and his focus on a task seemed to grant him more control against the lingering effects of the song. So many of the crew still moved sluggishly, not even the discordant calls enough to break the last of the pull from the earlier song. She knew these men, she had fought with them and alongside them. She knew a measure of their character and it was clear that the stronger willed of the bunch were further along. But not far enough, she saw as she peered over the side into the fire-lit wake left by the skate. Slippery, writing bodies with protruding bellies and gore-spattered faces of horrible, near human features that split in half to reveal maws filled with rows upon rows of needle thin teeth. From these grotesque mouths came the song, angry, hungry despite their recent feast and as Nicki listened she heard it change back towards what it was before. Luring, swelling, lush and full of promises that the creatures had no intention of keeping, yet still the weaker-willed sailors believed. 

She felt a movement at her side and the cold metal of a pistol slapped into her hand. She could see the eyes of the sailor so tasked beginning to glaze over as the song turned and the creatures gained on the skate. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that a great many of the sailors had slowed or fallen still in their tasks. 
Still the creatures came and Nicki understood that they were going to be taken over if something didn’t change. It was just a matter of time. 

She turned back to the Sirens and aimed her pistol at the great gaping maw of the lead Siren. It was not an easy shot, the ship moved under her, the prey was not still but she cleared her mind of all but her own need. Her need to survive this night, to make certain that the Skate and her crew came through intact. She needed to return Jax’s boots after all. 

She didn’t hit directly, she’d wanted to blow out the back of the Siren’s skull with her shot, instead she had to live with simply removing the left side of its face in a spatter that did nothing to slow down her sisters in their pursuit. 

They were closing in. 

“Prepare for boarding!” she called an aimed another pistol, certain it wasn’t going to be enough, not with more than half the crew playing at being statues on the deck.